Last Saturday, Christie and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of one of my former roommates, Eric Torrence. To get there and back we logged a total of 880 miles in the car in one day…err, 24-hour period. We left Oceanside at 8:30 a.m. and didn’t roll back into the driveway until nearly 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.
It was totally worth it. We were only to spend a total of seven hours in Livermore, where the wedding was held, but the time there was priceless. The hours were filled with conversation and laughter, and it was tough to pull myself away when it was time to leave.
We drove up with our friend Drew, and when we arrived in Livermore we were early enough to be able to hang out with the groom and the groomsmen–many of whom were close friends from college–for an hour or two before the wedding. Then, it was on to the ceremony and reception, where good times were had by all– the ceremony was beautiful, the wine was good, and the company could not have been better.
While at the wedding, I was struck by something. I was struck by the fact that almost every person in attendance that I recognized (which, granted, did not amount to very many people) was from the fraternity that Eric and I were a part of, Alpha Gamma Omega (or was their significant other). It was powerfully illustrative of the unique bond that exists between those of us who shared the AGO experience while we were at UCLA. Since UCLA we have of course gone our separate ways, and we have become a vocationally diverse group. Among those represented in attendance at the wedding there was a doctor, an attorney, a high school history teacher, a Ph.D student, a financial planner, and a pastor. But when we come together its as if we are back in college.
One of my friends, who was a groomsman, upon hearing that we were planning on driving back that night, practically insisted that we stay the night in the spare bed in his hotel room free of charge. We were grateful for the offer, but had to decline since I had to be back for church in the morning (and we were moving out of our apartment that afternoon). Upon returning home I sent that friend a brief facebook message thanking him for his willingness to accommodate us for the evening and saying that it had been great seeing him, if only briefly. He replied, and in part of his reply he said the following:
Even after just a few hours of hanging out, I’m always reminded of how much of a blessing our time at AGO was (and still is).
I couldn’t agree more.
I will be the first to admit that the whole “fraternity” thing is a little goofy. I certainly could have done without the lenghty meetings, bizarre rituals, and other formalities. That being said, I must acknowledge the fact that my very best friends in the world are the men that I met at AGO. Aside from my wife, there is no one on the planet whose company I enjoy more than my close friends from the fraternity. They are brothers, in the truest sense of the word. I am a better man and a more faithful follower of Jesus because of the friendships I have with those men.
Of course the days of sharing meals and living down the hall from one another are long gone, but the friendships that were forged during those years are the type that make life beautiful.
Given my present vocation, I know a lot of college-aged people read my blog. If you are one of those, I want to ask you the question, what relationships are you investing in right now? And I mean, really investing in? Not all of us have the opportunity to have a fraternity experience like mine, but we can all take the time to truly invest ourselves in relationships, especially in this season of life.
Last Saturday reminded me how grateful that I am to have been a part of something like Alpha Gamma Omega, and it made me even more grateful that between now and October 3 there will be three more “AGO weddings” that I will have the privilege of attending.
The song we used to sing at the end of every meeting was called “Strong the Ties”, and I believe it is now as an alumnus that I am most able to see how true the words of that song are.
Strong the ties that bind together
Men with hearts so true
Staunch the love of Christian brothers
Loyal, through and through
